Walking the streets of Shanghai

The first day of exploring Shanghai was spent walking. We started in the Bund, Shanghai's waterfront take on Wall Street.

In fact, it so delights in the Wall Street metaphor that a recently completed bull statue, crafted by the same sculptor who made the one in New York, was out for view on the pedestrian walkway.

From the Bund, there were great views across the Huangpu River to the Pudong New Area part of Shanghai. Pudong is a nearly entirely invented part of town, and full of skyscrapers and wide boulevards. That has led, in my opinion, to a nice skyline but a part of town that is no fun to be in.

Along one of the walls, there was a flower arrangement promoting the Shanghai World Expo 2010. This would turn out to be the first of literally hundreds of promotional items we saw about town.

Finally, the Bund has some great 1930s architecture. This clock tower was superb. It also had the backstory of being a place where Communist slogans were broadcast via megaphone during the Cultural Revolution. There was another gorgeous bank building that had an incredible tile mosaic ceiling in its foyer dome. There were all signs of the zodiac as well as other assorted animals. Sadly, no photos allowed.

From the Bund, we wandered over to the Yuyuan Bazaar and Gardens. Besides being the place of so-so xiao long bao dumplings (see previous post), this place was an odd juxtaposition. On the one hand, there was the bazaar, which was so packed with people it was impossible to find any peaceful space.

However, the garden was the opposite. Though in a fairly small space, it had been constructed to maximize the feeling of space and of privacy, with a lot of little spaces, nooks and crannies, and passage ways. There were a lot of rocks and a lot of foliage. There were also some neat buildings, including this Tower of Happiness and a covered bridge over a pond.

From there, the walking continued. Through Old Town we went, with many narrow alleyways, laundry hanging everywhere, and the bustle of the city pronounced.

One little market present was an animal market. There were crickets (so many crickets...), fish, birds, cats, dogs, and more. The place had such an aural racket that I couldn't stay long.

Finally, we came to Huaihai Park. There, we began exercising with Shanghai's elderly population. Let me explain. Tucked into one corner of the park were a number of plastic exercise machines, including directions. Most weren't too strenuous, but did require flexibility and muscle control. We tried them all out, mastered some, failed miserably at others (the water wheel, the pull up bar). Here's Max demonstrating how the suspended walking machine is done.